Dominican Republic Zorzal Direct trade Organic 2022

 Origin:  Dominican Republic

 Region: Reserva Zorzal

 Crop: 2022

 Type: Hispanola - Trinatario

 Certs: Certified Organic and Direct Trade

 Flavor Notes:

I really adore how consistent this origin is year in, year out.  Have a look at both spider charts,  2021 vs 2022. This time around the lovely fruit bomb character has turned a bit dried and heavy.  It is just luscious  This year it is showing a touch less of its big and beautiful character but makes up for it with better balance and more sweetness. The aroma is saturated with fudge, and dried Bing cherries.  It makes me think of certain heavy lilies  It is mouth wateringly intense.  It is big and bold but also very well rounded and not sharp at all.

The dried cherry comes charging out of the gate.  The acidity is moderately high, but in a soft way that isn't off putting but instead balances the sweetness.s  Once all that starts to fade away there are touches of a soft nut (neither cashew nor macadamia) and well worn supple leather (the earthy note I list)

The dry cherry turns to notes of sweet, heavy burnt sugar on the end that does an admirable job of balancing the sweetness and fruit. It is a balancing bitterness.  The flavor ends on a lower note with just a little of that leather.  

Oh, the chocolate. Sorry, I was distracted by the fruit.  Yep, chocolate there, with the heaviness of the fudge aroma.  Pretty typical of Hispanola, but missing that very dry tannic note and dustiness I often see.  This is clean and has a great clarity of flavor.  The mouth feel is unsurprisingly full.

This is a cocoa bean you can feel really good about.

First, it makes wonderful chocolate. Fine bean-to-bar makers like Blue Bandana, Hummingbird, Dandelion Chocolate, Raaka, Parliament, Cacao Sante Fe, and ChocoSol, make signature bars out of it.

Second it’s direct trade. We buy it directly from Zorzal Cacao with no middlemen. Charles Kerchner is a consulting forester who worked in the DR in the Peace Corps. He fell in love with the landscape, and at the time also fell in love with cocoa (he was a Chocolate Alchemy customer back in our early days). Working with partners and landowners in the DR, they formed a team that initiated the first private reserve in the Dominican Republic, as part of the National Protected Area System. Reserva Zorzal has become a model for private landowners to participate in landscape-level conservation.

Third it’s organic. Zorzal Cacao has a story that goes well beyond just being organic and direct trade. Reserva Zorzal has set aside 70% of its 1,019 acres as “forever wild”, devoted to the wintering grounds of Bicknell’s thrush, which of course benefits biodiversity and many other species. This rare and threatened bird breeds on remote mountaintops in the Northeastern United States. Seeing or hearing one is a rare treat even for experienced birders, and its habitat in dense hemlock forests makes even getting the chance of seeing one or hearing its nasal trill the thrill of a lifetime. It winters in the DR, where it is called the Zorzal de Bicknells, in the dense cloud forest, and because its habitat is shrinking both in its wintering grounds and breeding grounds, cooperative efforts between conservation organizations in the United States and the DR are forging real progress in maintaining populations of this rare songbird.

This is a versatile bean.  Roasts taken to 240-245 will have fewer caramel notes but may lack chocolate notes and really are not to my tastes.  250-255 F brings out the chocolate. 260-265 really allows this bean to sing. There is fruit enough to carry through whatever you do.

I personally like this bean roasted a touch heavier than many. In general, try giving this bean an extra 2-3 minutes roasting at a slightly hotter (10-15 F) temperature than you normally would for many beans and see what you think. I  wait until I hear a few beans popping, and still give it a 2-3 minutes.

 I've used this oven roasting profile to good success:

 Pre-heat your oven to 325 F. Put 1-2 lb of beans onto a tray single layer deep.  Check the temperature every 5 minutes, stirring at that time.  When the beans are in the 205-215 range, reduce the oven temperature to about 10-15 F above your target EOR, so if you are going for 260 F, set it to 275 F.   When the beans reach your desired temperature and/or are smelling sharp, another 15-30 minutes, remove them and let them cool. This should give you a nice fully developed roasted bean that is in little danger of being over roasted.

  If roasting in the Behmor, roast 2 lb and use P1 on the one pound setting, for 19-20 minutes or until you hear a pop or two.  Then take it longer.  2-3 minutes.  It is virtually impossible to over roast in the Behmor with 2 lb in there.

My drum roasting profile was 14:50/17:20/22:30 @ 260 F.  It is a moderate push through the Development phase and a good long 5 minutes in the Finishing phase to reduce astringency to basically imperceptible.  If you want to accentuate the sweetness I found make sure to get it to or into the 260 F range.  If you want more vibrancy mid 250 F fine making you you still have 4-5 minutes after 232 F.